laudius,
Aquila and Prisca were compelled to leave Rome for a while, and that
on their return they were able to open a small oratory--_ecclesiam
domesticam_--in their house. This oratory, one of the first opened to
divine worship in Rome, these walls which, in all probability, have
echoed with the sound of S. Peter's voice, were discovered in 1776
close to the modern church of S. Prisca; but no attention was paid to
the discovery, in spite of its unrivalled importance. The only
memorandum of it is a scrap of paper in Codex 9697 of the Bibliotheque
Nationale in Paris, in which a man named Carrara speaks of having
found a subterranean chapel near S. Prisca, decorated with paintings
of the fourth century, representing the apostles. A copy of the
frescoes seems to have been made at the time, but no trace of it has
been found. I cannot understand how, in an age like ours, so
enthusiastically devoted to archaeological, historical, and religious
research, no attempt has since been made to bring this venerable
oratory to light.

In the same excavations of 1776 was found a bronze tablet, which had
been offered to Gaius Marius Pudens Cornelianus, by the people of
Clunia (near Palencia, Spain) as a token of gratitude for the services
which he had rendered them during his governorship of the province of
Tarragona. The tablet, dated April 9, A. D. 222, proves that the house
owned by Aquila and Prisca in apostolic times had subsequently passed
into the hands of a Cornelius Pudens; in other words, that the
relations formed between the two families during the sojourn of the
apostles in Rome had been faithfully maintained by their descendants.
Their intimate connection is also proved by the fact that Pudens,
Pudentiana, Praxedes, and Prisca were all buried in the Cemetery of
Priscilla on the Via Salaria.[62]

A very old tradition, confirmed by the "Liber Pontificalis," describes
the modern church of S. Pudentiana as having been once the private
house of the same Pudens who was baptized by the apostles, and who is
mentioned in the epistles of S. Paul.[63] Here the first converts met
for prayers; here Pudentiana, Praxedes and Timotheus, daughters and
son of Pudens, obtained from Pius I. the institution of a regular
parish-assembly (_titulus_), provided with a baptismal font; and here,
for a long time, were preserved some pieces of household furniture
which had been used by S. Peter. The tradition deserves attention
because it was openl